Morning Radio Reaction: Steer Clear of Landmines by not Walking

As usual at 10:45 AM, I'm sitting here at my desk listening to Colin Cowherd on streaming internet radio. Not because I'm a huge fan of the guy, but more because hearing his absurdly stupid analogies stir the hate juice in me, keeping me from physically falling asleep awake at work.

He was just talking about how the youth in the NBA is made up of good, stand-up guys.

"Chris Paul's a good kid, LeBron's a good kid, Josh Howard's a good kid...uhh, Nowitzki's a good guy..."

Really? That's the best you can do? Nowitzki?

Listen, I understand that the hypersensitive times we live in make it impossible to say anything about a guy of a different race without some sort of reaction. But to throw Nowitzki in there, that's like the guy who invites his fiance's uncle, who he hardly knows, to his bachelor party so his future wife can rest a little more easy. It doesn't make any sense and hardly does any good for anyone.

Has the racial backlash against the media gotten so bad that they can't say something positive about a group of players in the NBA players who happen to be black? Does only including black players in the discussion come off as a contrived effort to make a point? In other words, is there a fear that rattling off a list of classy young players who happen to all be black will come off as a transparent attempt to relate?

Maybe. But shouldn't it be simple enough for a media personality to say that the young stars in the league, who are mostly black, are nice people? Obviously, it's not. But where do we draw the line?

Have things gotten so touchy that a radio personality will say something he knows well makes no sense whatsoever just to cover himself?